Asked first by reporters on Capitol Hill if his unexpectedly tough race against Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock made him a “casualty of the Tea Party,” Lugar said no. “I’m not looking at myself as a casualty,” Lugar said. “‘Survivor’ is the correct word, quite healthy, and I believe we’re going to win two weeks from now.”

He added that “some elements of the Tea Party have opposed me, but not the Hamilton County Tea Party and not several other tea parties, so let’s make clear this is not a monolithic movement in Indiana.”

The veteran senator also was not ready to say that the GOP benefited from the movement. “I’ll wait and see how things are going,” he said — and a reporter added, “Two weeks.”